Political life in Madrid is currently unfolding between two scenarios. Firstly, the courts, due to the start of the trials for corruption cases involving the PP and the PSOE. And secondly, in the realm of international relations, concerning everything related to the situation in the Middle East, after a precarious two-week truce was announced, with very uncertain results. These are very diverse issues, which obviously have nothing to do with each other, but which, if followed closely, give a fairly accurate idea of the point at which political forces stand, particularly those of the Popular Party and the Socialists. The start of the trial of the Ábalos-Koldo-Aldama case scheme was, and will continue to be in the coming weeks, a great opportunity for the PP to take advantage of the exhibition of the reprehensible procedures employed by the former Minister of Public Works and former organization secretary of the PSOE, his advisor, and the businessman who did business with them, in relation to public contracts to acquire sanitary material, allegedly violating the law in a tragic context, that of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the missions of the Supreme Court in the first three days of the trial against José Luis Ábalos has been to reconstruct the alleged cronyism of two women close to the then Minister of Transport and former organization secretary of the PSOE. They are Jessica Rodríguez, who was his partner for a year and a half; and Claudia Montes, with whom he maintained a "virtual" relationship. The first has admitted that she was receiving payment without going to work – a total of 44,000 euros at Ineco and Tragsatec–. The second woman claims that she did fulfill her duties at Logirail, although others dispute this. Amidst contradictions and labor disputes, several witnesses have tried to shed light on this this week at the high court. "I had a contract, but I wasn't actively working," Jessica Rodríguez acknowledged on Tuesday. Marino Turiel, José Luis Ábalos' lawyer, suspects there is a hidden agreement between her and Víctor de Aldama: "It is very clear that there is a pact and an agreement".

The key witness in the third session of the trial against José Luis Ábalos was Carmen Pano. And her statement followed the script: as she said at the Audiencia Nacional, during the investigation at the Supreme Court and at the Senate's investigation committee, she reiterated and to the Senate's investigation committee, But there was a second delivery that raises more doubts. Carmen Pano first said that the "operation" was that Claudio Rivas made transfers to her accounts and she withdrew the money in cash. And it wasn't until half an hour later that she admitted that in the second case she didn't directly withdraw the money from the bank, but rather a certain Lolo, a "worker or friend" of Claudio Rivas, brought it to her home. She didn't get to count it, but – in theory – there were also 45,000 euros. She took it back to Aldama's office, but later he called her "quite angry" and told her that 10,000 euros were missing. "Therefore, I deduce that there were 35,000 euros," the businesswoman acknowledged. This is a point that only came to light at the end of her statement, after spending a long time equating the two deliveries and without having mentioned this unforeseen event.

“An agreement that had as its object the future commission of crimes as opportunities to commit them arose”. After a year and a half of investigation, 30 years in prison. On the table will be nine crimes, including membership in a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, and embezzlement.

The Supreme Court has taken a decisive step and will try José Luis Ábalos, Koldo García, and Víctor de Aldama within a month for the purchase of medical supplies during the pandemic. The high court unanimously rejected all preliminary motions filed by the former Minister of Transport and his former advisor, who will appear in court starting Tuesday, April 7, the day after the Kitchen case trial begins against Jorge Fernández Díaz and his top officials at the Ministry of the Interior during Mariano Rajoy's administration. Three weeks after the Preliminary view of the masks caseThe Supreme Court has closed the door on one of Ábalos and Koldo's main demands: that the case return to the National Court as a result of the Ábalos resigns from his position as a deputyThe 138-page interlocutory ruling reiterates that once a judge opens oral proceedings against a member of parliament—as happened in December, when Ábalos was still a member—the Supreme Court's jurisdiction is "immune to the loss of protected status" and argues that this is a moment that "cannot be left to chance or depend on the whim or will of the accused." It also maintains that the Supreme Court's 2014 ruling—which the defense teams of Ábalos and Koldo challenged—served to "establish a clear criterion in the face of the confusing legal framework." Koldo and Aldama, who have never held protected status, will also be tried by the Supreme Court due to their "inexplicable material connection" with the events under investigation. Furthermore, the seven Supreme Court justices challenge the defense's pride and warn them that granting their request would have "onerous consequences" for the two defendants, who "would see their case delayed." sine die"The trial. The prosecution." He is asking for 24 years in prison. Ábalos received a 19.5-year sentence, Koldo García a 19.5-year sentence, and Aldama a 7-year sentence. They are accused of five crimes: membership in a criminal organization, bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling, and insider trading.

77 days after the Supreme Court will send them to jailJosé Luis Ábalos and Koldo García have temporarily left Soto del Real prison for the preliminary hearing in their trial for the purchase of face masks, which is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks. This unprecedented hearing was established under the law on efficiency in the justice system, which came into effect ten months ago. The former number three of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and his former advisor at the Ministry of Transport arrived at the Supreme Court in a Spanish police van at 10:30 a.m., half an hour before the scheduled hearing. The third defendant, Víctor de Aldama, also attended, although he is free and had not made any statements. For the first time, all three appeared together in the dock and faced the seven judges who will preside over their case.

Under investigation for alleged corruption in the Supreme Court, Santos Cerdán presented his defense strategy in the Senate on Wednesday. This comes amid a crisis within the Spanish government. cases piling up in the courtsand a month later to be released on bail from prisonThe former number three of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) appeared before the Koldo case committee in the Senate to once again assert his innocence. Although he invoked his right to remain silent regarding the specific charges against him, he claimed to be the victim of a "persecution worthy of the Inquisition" and linked the investigation to his role in the amnesty law agreement. "I will defend myself; let it be clear, I am innocent, I am not corrupt, and sooner or later you will be able to verify this," he said in an initial statement read from a laptop. The former socialist leader, who spoke with his lawyer, Jacobo Teijelo, before entering the courtroom, denounced the "unfair trial" he has been subjected to, claiming that "no specific crime is being investigated." And in a subsequent response to the senator from the Junts per Catalunya party, Eduard Pujol, he stated that the case against him "would not have exploded" as it did if he hadn't led the negotiations with Junts for Pedro Sánchez's investiture, which culminated in the Brussels agreement. "There is a before and after the photo with Puigdemont [...] Everything changed after that photo," he said.

A reshuffle is underway at the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, instigated by the Spanish government. The Council of Ministers will approve tomorrow the promotion of Colonel Rafael Yuste Arenes to Brigadier General, which will entail his departure as head of the UCO, according to reports. Eldiario.es and government sources confirm to ARA. The UCO is the specialized unit that, among other things, is participating in the investigation of the legal cases surrounding Pedro Sánchez – for example, prepared the report which led to the indictment of Santos Cerdán or accredited that the Attorney General deleted the messages from his mobile phone the day the Supreme Court indicted him—. Rafael Yuste had been in charge of the UCO for two and a half years—he arrived in June 2023 replacing Alfonso López Malo—and has now been promoted after passing the course and ranking first in his class in the evaluation.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo wants general elections to be called in Spain and is taking advantage of the alleged corruption cases plaguing the PSOE and, consequently, the Spanish government, to pressure for them. "Spain is fed up," the PP leader exclaimed this Sunday from the Temple of Debod in Madrid, at the seventh demonstration organized by the People's Party against Pedro Sánchez's government since the start of the legislature. But the key to a general election lies with Sánchez, who has repeatedly stated his intention to serve out his term. That is, to call elections in 2027. For this reason, the PP has been flirting with the idea of a motion of no confidence for days, although it hasn't yet pursued it because the numbers don't add up. Currently, it would only have the support of Vox. And it is in this context that Feijóo looks to the PNV and Junts, whom he challenged this Sunday to "retract": "How much longer will you swallow?" Feijóo asked them. The PP leader accused them of "supporting" the "corruption" of the Spanish government. Before 40,000 demonstrators, according to the Spanish government delegation – 80,000 according to PP sources – Feijóo wanted to make it clear that he is not throwing in the towel with either the PNV or Junts, even though Carles Puigdemont's party once again distanced itself from this scenario.They will help him convince Junts to support a motion.

The 180 meters separating the Supreme Court from the National Court have never seemed so short. Last Thursday, while José Luis Ábalos faced the possibility of being sent to prison by Leopoldo Puente in the case concerning the purchase of face masks – as It ended up happening—Víctor de Aldama testified before Ismael Moreno regarding contracts awarded by the Canary Islands government during the pandemic; an alleged corruption scheme that has led to multiple parallel investigations with interconnected links. So much so, that even the lawyers involved are still unclear about the number of ongoing cases and their scope. We're taking it one step at a time.

Something has happened again that has never happened before, which is that a sitting member of parliament goes to prison.

Thursday's political events were dominated by the imprisonment of Ábalos and Koldo, and the investiture of Pérez Llorca as president of the Valencian Generalitat. In other words, the focus was on the legal misadventures of two scoundrels (with Ábalos already putting on a show of turning against his own party if it might bring him some possible legal benefit) and on the placement of a figurehead at the head of the Valencian Council, following a pre-written script: continuity with the Maag era, environmental subservience, attacks against feminism, and against the Catalan language and culture. Pérez Llorca displayed the cold cynicism of promising that, if invested, he would apologize to the victims of the DANA storm. As secretary general of the Valencian PP since 2023—and, therefore, number two on the regional executive committee, second only to the outgoing president, Mazón—Pérez Llorca could have started by apologizing on the very day of the DANA storm, but he never did. Offering a belated and inadequate apology, solely to gain something, is worse than not apologizing at all: any elementary school child knows this, yet it's still asking too much of certain figures in Spanish public life. Consider, like a tempting carrot, the Adelante Plan for the reconstruction of the Valencian Community, with a budget of 29 billion euros.

Supreme Court Justice Leopoldo Puente has summoned former minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García to a hearing on Thursday, November 27, to decide whether to keep them free or remand them in custody. The judge will review the precautionary measures he has in place for the former Socialist Party (PSOE) minister and his advisor in the case concerning the alleged scheme to purchase face masks during the pandemic, after the private prosecutors and the public prosecutor requested a hearing to have them detained. The hearing comes just weeks after the judge himself warned of a "growing" flight risk as the trial "approaches" and the evidence in the case "strengthens." This Wednesday The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office requested a 24-year prison sentence and a fine of almost 4 million euros for Ábalos.The prosecutor accuses him of five crimes: membership in a criminal organization, bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling, and insider trading. For Koldo, the request is for 19 years for the same crimes. Currently, both Ábalos and Koldo must appear in court every two weeks, their passports have been confiscated, and they are prohibited from leaving Spain.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office is seeking a 24-year prison sentence and a fine of almost 4 million euros for José Luis Ábalos, former Minister of Transport and former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, in the case concerning the purchase of masks during the pandemic. He is one step away from trial.In a 21-page document, Alejandro Luzón accuses him of five crimes: membership in a criminal organization, bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling, and insider trading. In a tweet on X, Ábalos denounced that "not only have each and every one of the pieces of evidence I have requested or access to the case file been rejected," but that "now, in a premeditated strategy of pressure, I am being subjected to an exaggerated demand for crimes and penalties."

A new report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard points to the "influence" that commission agent Víctor de Aldama may have had on the Canary Islands government of Ángel Víctor Torres (PSOE), the current Minister of Territorial Policy, in the purchase of contracts for masks and antigen tests during the pandemic. Specifically, the UCO report, presented this Monday to the National Court and accessed by ARA, indicates that Aldama's influence was exerted through the former Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, and his former advisor, Koldo García. Thus, the Canary Islands government of Ángel Víctor Torres would be implicated, according to the UCO report, in the alleged corruption scheme surrounding Aldama, Ábalos, and Koldo, which originated in alleged illegal payments for the purchase of masks during the pandemic. For this reason, the People's Party (PP) has called for the minister's immediate dismissal.

The People's Party (PP) long ago decided to sacrifice the Senate's value as a chamber of territorial representation and a second reading body, turning it into a sounding board for their opposition to Pedro Sánchez. That's why they thought it was a good idea to summon the Spanish Prime Minister to testify before a commission on the Koldo case in a room they completely control. But once again, and this has happened several times now, the PP has failed, and Pedro Sánchez has emerged unscathed from the lamentable spectacle that unfolded in the Senate.

The People's Party (PP) wanted to subject Pedro Sánchez to questioning in the Senate's Koldo/Ábalos case committee, but on occasions like these, it knows how to frustrate the conservative party until chaos reigns. The Spanish president donned his PSOE leadership hat to confront the right-wing corruption accusations, and the discussion devolved into another chapter of the "you too" rivalry between the two major parties in the country. "I think this is a circus," Sánchez declared from the outset. The spectacle reached its peak at the end, during the tense questioning by PP Senator Alejo Miranda de Larra, who was powerless in the face of the Spanish president's responses, some evasive and others direct. "There was a black money circuit on Génova Street, not on Ferraz Street," said Sánchez, who left the committee "very satisfied."

For the second day in a row, the Supreme Court followed a virtually identical script. After José Luis Ábalos appeared yesterday, this Thursday it was Koldo García's turn. Just as the former Minister of Transport did, his former advisor refused to testify, criticizing Leopoldo Puente, the judge in charge of the alleged corruption case at the high court, who opted to release him. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, as was the case with Ábalos, has not requested his imprisonment, even though it sees a certain risk of flight, and the Popular Party (PP) prosecutors, led by the People's Party (PP), have again unsuccessfully requested provisional detention without bail. Thus, Koldo has also avoided prison and is leaving the Supreme Court with the same precautionary measures that were being applied to him: revocation of his passport and biweekly appearances in court. Thus, the former number three of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Santos Cerdán, is the only suspect in the case who is incarcerated.

In the president's speech yesterday On the island there was the announcement of thousands of apartments, which has grabbed all the headlines, and a second announcement that has gone more unnoticed but is equally or more important, and whose situation we'll now explain. But first, as we've said, the apartments.

A new report by the UCO (Central University of Madrid) on the assets of José Luis Ábalos has once again ignited the political climate in Madrid, but it doesn't really clarify the true scope of a corruption case that, on paper, could threaten the continuity of Pedro Sánchez's government. In this report, the Civil Guard reveals that Ábalos gave his advisor, Koldo García, almost daily instructions to pay from his bank accounts for expenses that were actually his own. For example, gifts for his lovers, his son's pension, and personal trips. In total, these expenses add up to 95,000 euros, which the Civil Guard suspects Koldo paid with money of dubious origin, but the report does not clarify this.